New Delhi, Sep 27 (IANS): Vedanta Aluminium Business, India's largest producer of the aluminium and value-added products, has bagged top spots at Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) Cycle-II among the Indian aluminium industry.

Perform Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme is a regulatory instrument deployed by the Ministry of Power, to reduce specific energy consumption in energy intensive industries with an associated market-based mechanism to enhance cost effectiveness through certification of excess energy savings, which can be traded.

Among aluminium smelters in India, Vedanta's subsidiary Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) secured the coveted top spot with the highest Energy Saving Certificates, followed by Vedanta Jharsuguda's Smelter I. Vedanta's alumina Refinery at Lanjigarh, ranked highest among peer alumina producers. An alumina refinery is a plant where bauxite is refined into aluminium oxide or alumina, and an aluminium smelter is a plant where aluminium is produced from alumina. These achievements bear testimony to Vedanta Aluminium's robust endeavours towards energy conservation for business and environment sustainability.

Speaking about Vedanta's energy stewardship, Rahul Sharma, CEO – Vedanta Aluminium Business, said: "Being India's largest aluminium producer, our aim at Vedanta Aluminium is to be the best in all facets of business, including Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) sustainability. Maximising energy conservation and minimising carbon footprint are two key pillars of our sustainable business development agenda. A three-pronged strategy of ensuring judicious resource usage, energy-efficient operations, and renewable energy sourcing, helps us further our energy sustainability and climate action goals. Towards this, we have adopted global best-practises in energy and resource management, and deployed cutting-edge solutions to reduce our carbon footprint."

Energy management is at the heart of Vedanta Aluminium's climate action roadmap, and finds realisation through dedicated efforts towards attaining highest operational efficiency of assets and processes. These include impactful initiatives for optimisation of specific energy consumption in production processes and a long-term focus on migrating to low carbon energy mix.

Prafulla Behera, Site In-Charge of IGSEC Heavy Engineering Ltd, which is the operations and maintenance partner for the power plant at Lanjigarh, adds: "With our engineering and domain expertise, we have been working with Vedanta on their energy efficiency and energy sustainability targets. We are proud to be playing a crucial role in Vedanta's journey towards being a forerunner in the field of energy conservation and ensuring maximum energy optimization at its world-class refinery operations."

Vedanta's Alumina Refinery, Aluminium Aluminium Smelters and Power Plants have been forerunners in the realm of energy management, among the Indian manufacturing sectors. Few notable initiatives and highlights:

-- Vedanta Aluminium was India's largest green power purchaser in Q1FY22, having procured 354 million units of solar and non-solar renewable energy for its aluminium smelter at Jharsuguda.

-- Vedanta Aluminium Business has significantly reduced its GHG emission intensity by 21 per cent with 2012 as baseline, and aims to reduce it by 24 per cent in 2025 over the same baseline.

-- Climate action initiatives across all Business Units have resulted in energy conservation of 1.4 million GJ and GHG savings of 0.32 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) in FY 20-21.

-- Vedanta's aluminium smelter at Jharsuguda is India's first, and the world's third smelter to deploy Digital Smelter Solution, which uses digital twin technology, predictive and prescriptive analytics to enhance energy efficiency.

-- The Jharsuguda smelter is also the amongst the first few aluminium smelters in Asia to receive ISO 50001 certificate for Energy Management System.

-- BALCO Vedanta's subsidiary at Chhattisgarh, achieved lowest specific power consumption in its Potline-I in 2020, which is among the best in India and the Gulf countries. A potline is a long building, or collection of buildings, located in a smelter and contains a series of 'pots', or large electrolytic cells, in which aluminium smelting is carried out.

-- Vedanta Lanjigarh's specific energy consumption has reduced by over 23 per cent over the last five years, making it one of the most energy efficient refineries in the country.

-- Vedanta's 'Carbon Forum' is actively working on guiding implementation of the company's carbon mitigation approach.

Vedanta Aluminium Business, a division of Vedanta Limited, is India's largest manufacturer of aluminium, producing half of India's aluminium i.e. 1.96 million tonnes in FY21. It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in core industries. With its world-class Aluminium Smelters, Alumina Refinery and Power Plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the 'Metal of the Future' for a greener tomorrow.